Ball State University
4-16
Indiana State
21-5
Baseball Drops Home Opener Against Indiana State
March 28, 2012 | Baseball
MUNCIE, Ind. - After 19 straight road games to open the 2012 season, the Ball State baseball team held its home opener Wednesday afternoon and the Cardinals suffered a 14-3 loss to instate rival Indiana State at Ball Diamond. The Cardinals will continue their five-game home stretch this weekend as they host Mid-American Conference power Kent State in a three-game series.
Junior center fielder Wes Winkle (Muncie, Ind./Yorktown) continued his hot hitting in the loss as he posted three of the Cardinals' seven hits to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 10 games. Winkle raised his team-leading batting average to .362 on the year, a jump of 29 points. He has hit .450 over his past 10 games, going 18-of-40 with six multiple-hit games, including six hits in the past two games.
Indiana State (21-5) opened the scoring in the top of the second inning against sophomore left-hander Nestor Bautista (New York, N.Y./George Washington). The Sycamores took advantage of the BSU fielding error to score two runs in the inning as they posted three hits. Bautista limited the damage though as he struck out Koby Kraemer with the bases loaded to keep it a 2-0 Indiana State lead.
Indiana State added another run in the top of the third inning as Robby Ort led off the inning with a hustling double. The Sycamores brought him home with back-to-back ground outs to take a 3-0 lead.
Ball State (4-16) broke through against Indiana State right-hander Kyle Rupe in the bottom of the third inning. Sophomore Sean Godfrey (New Albany, Ind./New Albany) started things off with a one-out base hit that he stretched into a double catching the ISU left fielder on the slow retrieval. Winkle dropped a run-scoring single into the right center field to plate Godfrey to make it a 5-1 contest.
After the Sycamores added two unearned runs in the top of the fourth, junior Blake Beemer (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) led off the bottom half of the frame with a hit by pitch. After a wild pitch moved him into scoring position, sophomore Cody Campbell (Muncie, Ind./Cowan) made it a 7-2 game with a run-scoring single into left field.
Indiana State broke the game open in the top of the sixth inning as it scored six runs to take a 14-2 lead. Landon Curry had the big hit of the inning as he hit a grand slam for his first career home run.
Junior catcher Billy Wellman (Portland, Ind./Jay County) tallied the Cardinals' third run of the afternoon as he hit his first home run of the year high over the right field wall to make it a 14-3 contest.
Bautista (0-4) picked up the loss for the Cardinals as he allowed seven runs, only four earned, in 3.0 innings on eight hits. He was one of five Cardinals' pitchers on the afternoon that allowed 14 runs, only six of which were earned as Ball State posted four errors on the afternoon.
Rupe (5-0) tallied the victory as he allowed just two runs on six hits in 6.0 innings and was one of four Indiana State pitchers.
The Cardinals continue their five-game home stand this weekend as they host perennial Mid-American Conference power Kent State for a three-game series. First pitch Friday afternoon is set for 3 p.m. at Ball Diamond.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Rupe, Kyle (5-0)
L: Bautista, Nestor (0-4)
Batting:
2B: Ort, Robby 1 ; Wampler, Tyler 1
HR: Curry, Landon 1
RBI: Curry, Landon 5 ; Burnam, Kyle 2 ; McCurdy, Casey 1 ; Hileman, Lucas 1 ; Wampler, Tyler 2
SF: McCurdy, Casey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Curry, Landon 1 ; Kraemer, Koby 1 ; Ort, Robby 2 ; Lucas, Jeremy 2 ; Burnam, Kyle 1 ; McCurdy, Casey 2 ; Hileman, Lucas 2 ; Wampler, Tyler 2 ; Miera, Jeff 1
SB: McCurdy, Casey 1 ; Hileman, Lucas 1 ; Wampler, Tyler 2
HBP: Conway, Owen 1 ; Hileman, Lucas 1 ; Wampler, Tyler 1 ; Miera, Jeff 1
Batting:
2B: Godfrey, Sean 1
HR: Wellman, Billy 1
RBI: Winkle, Wes 1 ; Campbell, Cody 1 ; Wellman, Billy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Beemer, Blake 1 ; Godfrey, Sean 1 ; Wellman, Billy 1
HBP: Beemer, Blake 1
